+3 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mountain of Thibet, and contains 999 chambers. At a mile from this 

 palace stands the celebrated temple Dshu. Every new year there as- 

 sembles in this temple the clergy of the whole of Thibet, to the num- 

 ber of 1 7,000 men. They celebrate there day and night divine service 

 for twenty-one days. 



All the rest of the clergy is composed of lamas. To become a 

 lama is not an easy thing. For this, besides the three principal books, 

 it is necessary to read a multitude of others, which embrace many 

 hundred volumes. It is also necessary to be instructed in astronomy, 

 in medicine, and in other sciences ; and lastly, which is the most diffi- 

 cult, it is necessary to perform the vote to think upon God every mo- 

 ment, and strictly to execute all the commandments, the number of 

 which surpasses two hundred. 



The social organization of the Calmucks at the commencement of 

 the seventeenth century, that is to say, at the epoch of their arrival in 

 Russia, was purely patriarchal. Many families united by the bonds 

 of relationship formed a khoton, of which the most aged was the head. 

 Many khotons composed an a'bnaJc, governed by the za'isangh 

 the power of whom was hereditary from father to son. Afterward 

 many aiimaks in their turn formed a commune, and many communes 

 composed an oidouss, governed by a nohyon, or chief. Lastly, 

 a certain number of oulouss, united under the command of a 

 ta'isha, formed a tribe. The ta'isha, who had the rank of a prince, 

 governed personally in the principal oulouss ; and all the others he 

 ceded to his sons and brothers, who governed there by turns. All the 

 tribes united constituted the entire people, commanded by the khan. 



The actual rule over the Calmucks belongs to the Court of Do- 

 mains, at Astrakhan. Formerly there were three kinds of punishment 

 corporal punishment, fine, and the degradation of the criminal in the 

 face of the entire tribe. Thus, for example, for disobedience to 

 parents, as well as for rudeness or insolence to elders or chiefs, they 

 applied to the offender, first, a certain number of blows with a stick, 

 and then, after having daubed his face with soot, and tied a pan round 

 his neck, they promenaded him through the whole khoton. This chas- 

 tisement is called degradation by means of the hand, because, to apply 

 it, he who is charged with its execution takes a handful of soot from 

 the bottom of the pan, and spreads the whole handful over the face of 

 the offender. For a theft they punished the thief by promenading him 

 equally through the khoton by a cord round his neck. Those who 

 met him gave him blows with a rod on his naked body, and some 

 deride him. 



The exercise of justice has three degrees : The first, which was 

 practised in the khoton, had a family character. The second consisted 

 in a veritable tribunal, named zargo, and was composed of the 

 za'isanghs under the presidency of a nohyon. Lastly, the supreme 

 tribunal, after the number of its members, called Judgment of the 



